Category Archives: Christ’s sufficiency

Whose work is it anyway?

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Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

(1Cor 15.58)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

(Rom 8.28&29)

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

(Phil 1.3-6; 2.12&13)

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart… God disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

(Heb 12.2&3,10&11)

There is something of a mystery going on here; did you notice that quotation from Philippians, where Paul exhorts his readers to ‘work out’ their salvation, and then says it is actually God who is working in them! Who is doing the work?! 

This is one of those areas of faith where we must walk carefully – never falling into the trap that it is by our works that we are assured of salvation, and also avoiding the assumption that I only have to ‘let go, and let God have his way,’ in some passive surrender. I am saved by the all-sufficient work of Jesus, and nothing I can do will add to that supreme act of redemption, nor in any way enhance God’s love for me. I am also called – as a new-made child of God – to give myself wholly to living for and with my heavenly Father, growing closer and closer to my Lord Jesus (and therefore more like him), and depending more and more fully on the Holy Spirit within me to enable all these things. I must work… and yet, it is God who is working in me to fulfill his good purposes!

In sovereign omnipotence, the Almighty God is indeed working to bring all of history to the long-intended climax, the return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings, and the full revelation and establishment of his kingdom. In ways which I cannot begin to understand, this work includes the tiny details of my short and insignificant life – the Eternal One has made this human being his business, and has magnificent plans to include her in what he is doing. And I am invited to fully embrace, accept and eagerly align myself with that working – by the power of the Holy Spirit to submit, to commit, to keep on turning to Jesus. When I recognise the scale of the story into which I am now come as a beloved daughter, I am enthralled and amazed, and long to do all I can to engage with God’s work. 

It isn’t so easy when what I am called to is discipline, suffering, endurance and disappointment. But, if God is truly at work in me, and calling me to embrace that work, then this too is a means of grace. This is part of the work, and I am assured that God will complete what he has begun – so my griefs and labours are never wasted but are taken up and made part of his transformation of me into Christ-likeness.

Heavenly Father, thank you that I can trust you to work your perfect will in my life. Thank you that your Spirit enables me to align with that work, to bring my own fitful and limited powers for your transforming use. Thank you for stirring up in me the desire to embrace your work in my life, to accept your will and find your provision for each step. 

Let me work more and more in harmony with you; trusting that my labours are not in vain because you are directing and enabling them for your glory and the blessing of others. All that I do, is by your power, all the praise is to you, through my Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

So simple.. so profound!

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This mystery has been kept in the dark for along time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less…

I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery!

You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught… and let your living spill over into thanksgiving..

Everything of God gets expressed in [Christ], so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you too. His power extends over everything. Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in – insiders – not through some secret initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin.

(Col 1.26-29;2.2&3,6&7,9-11: The Message)

I have been told that I am something of an ‘over-thinker’, one who tends to look for complications and difficulties where they do not exist, creating unnecessary burdens and stress for myself and distress for those around me. This may well be true – I prefer to say that I am realistic about the complexities of life!

However, I have always cherished the deep simplicity at the heart of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all who trust in him, and the Son of God. As the Message paraphrase so beautifully puts it.. ‘Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him.’ In the sheer volume of noise which is our world today – the noise of strident humanism; the wail of human suffering; the outrage of oppression; the wailing of a poisoned and sickening planet – amidst all this din, I still hear that clarion call which turns my eyes to the cross.

I turn my eyes upon Jesus, and I look long and full into that face of suffering love, of selfless giving, of God-confident sacrifice – and I cannot look away. I am compelled to trust, to follow, to offer up all that God has made in and given to me in response to dying-and-rising love incarnate. Without Jesus, this life is hopeless, aimless, and desolate. With Jesus, comes life, hope, love, joy and satisfaction – no matter what my circumstances may be. This good news is for everyone who will receive it, and we don’t need a PhD in theology or Greek in order to grasp and begin to live as those redeemed, cleansed and adopted by the Almighty God! We look to Jesus, and we ask His Spirit in us to make us like him, day by day in and through all that we experience. It is so simple…

And yet, it is also profound – as the innumerable quantities of words written down the centuries about our faith will testify! There is material here to occupy the greatest minds that God ever created; material to absorb and challenge the highest powers of every creative artist; truth to bear fruit upon every fresh meditation. We can never plumb the depths of God’s love, of his justice, of his providence; we can never adequately express our praise, and certainly never begin to comprehend or understand him! And how marvellous it is to know that the God who calls us into fellowship with him is – as the creator of our marvellous and mysterious universe should be – utterly beyond our comprehension!

We journey through this world by faith, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the unchanging author and pioneer of our faith. We journey simply trusting his word; we journey continually deeper into the profound mystery of his love, of his divinity, of the greatness of our God and the marvels of his grace. 

 

Look to Jesus,
With the look of faith, because our salvation is in him alone;
With the look of love, because He alone can satisfy our heart;
with the look of strong desire, longing to know him better;
with the look of soul devotion, waiting only to know His will;
with the look of gladness, because we know He loves us;
with the look of wonder and admiration, because He is the brightness of the Father's glory, our Lord and our God.

(from Andrew Murray, ‘The Holiest of All’, 1894, p. 484)

Be it unto me as my Lord decrees..

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O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end; Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend: I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side, nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my Guide.

O let me feel Thee near me: the world is ever near; I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear; my foes are ever near me, around me and within; but, Jesus, draw Thou nearer, and shield my soul from sin.

O let me hear Thee speaking in accents clear and still, above the storms of passion, the murmurs of self-will; O speak to reassure me, to hasten or control; O speak, and make me listen, Thou Guardian of my soul.

O Jesus, Thou hast promised, to all who follow Thee, that where Thou art in glory there shall Thy servant be; and, Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end: O give me grace to follow, my Master and my Friend.

(JE Bode 1816-1874)

These words are engraved on my memory; are part of the soundtrack of my life just as much as the popular music of my teenage years, or the choral music of my adult life. I sang them at the annual Founder’s day event at school, I sang them at church, and the great striding melody which accompanies the words always made me want to march as I sang! They have been true for me for as long as I remember singing them.

And today, I simply want to give thanks and bear witness to the faithfulness of the God who called me into being, who caused me to be raised in a christian home; who imperceptibly birthed faith within me; who led me into adult life and to quiet paths of service and (I trust) fruitfulness. It is all his doing, all His love and compassion and keeping. I want to join with all God’s people in affirming that He is goodness itself, and utterly trustworthy! He has declared me to be his child, delivering me from the ruling power of sin, so that I might be ruled instead by love – the divine passion to which I can fully submit, confident that all that he ordains will be for my good and for his glory.

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness…. so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.. now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 

(Rom 6.17-22)

Today I give thanks, along with all God’s people, that I am now a slave to righteousness and am being shaped day-by-day, through all the travails of life, into the likeness of Jesus my Lord. The commands and duties which shape my life are now all for good, and bear fruit for good, and I am empowered to know and to keep these commands because Jesus has given me his own spirit, his heart, his mind. I am on the road to eternal fullness, to never-ending fruitfulness and joy, to the bliss of being at home and without shame in the presence of holiness. And all this is because of Jesus, my master and friend, my guide and guardian. His ambition for me is outrageous, so far beyond my poor imagination, and it fills me with such a deep ache for my true home that I am increasingly eager to be away and to be with the Lord.

My slave-master is Righteousness himself, and I can surrender myself fully and confidently to his providence, because he died for me. My slave-master is Love incarnate, I need not fear his rod, nor hesitate to obey his word because he died for me. He is shaping me, in love, to become like himself – love and righteousness.. how can I resist?!

O Thou the reflection of whose transcendent glory did once appear unbroken in the face of Jesus Christ, give me today a heart like His – a brave heart, a true heart, a tender heart, a heart with great room in it, a heart fixed on Thyself; for His name’s sake. Amen

(J Baillie: A diary of Private Prayer, 1937)

Discipline – the blessings of duty

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“Do the next thing”… Many a questioning, many a fear, many a doubt hath its quieting here. Moment by moment, let down from heaven, time opportunity, guidance are given. Fear not tomorrows, child of the King, trust them with Jesus, “Do the next thing.”

Do it immediately; do it with prayer; do it reliantly, casting all care; do it with reverence, tracing his hand who placed it before thee with earnest command. Stayed on Omnipotence, safe’neath his wing, leave all resultings, “Do the next thing.”

(author unknown)

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life.. Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your ids and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse…

(Phil 4.6-8; the Message)

Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen colour and design quite like it?.. If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers – most of which are never even seen – don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving…. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out.

(Matt 5.28-33; the Message)

What do you do when the background noise of your mind becomes overwhelmingly negative? Where do you go with the distressing feelings, and the sense of failing God that accompanies awareness of our sin and weakness? Well, perhaps the apostle Paul would class such things under the heading of ‘worries’, and thus we can look to his advice to shape those worries into prayer, to take the reality of our feelings and bring them into the presence of our loving Father for his comfort and reassurance.

If, like me, you find those ‘worries’ remarkably persistent in spite of prayer, it is good to cultivate the discipline of reminding ourselves that our feelings do not control us. They are strong, sometimes to an overwhelming degree. BUT, God tells us that they are lying if they deny our salvation; if they suggest that somehow Jesus’ sacrifice is not enough for one as hopeless as ourselves. The Cross is truly sufficient for every sinner, even for the feeblest saint who spends rather too much of their time lying face down in the dust, wanting to just die and get it all over with because they are so ashamed and fed up of their own weakness.

Alongside that discipline – which can be extremely hard to practice – comes the blessing of routine chores and the duties which we owe to those around us. I call them blessings because it is as we continue to fulfil our responsibilities – choosing to be faithful, practical, thoughtful for the care of others – that God often brings us relief, not least by distracting us from our own unhappiness! Those duties and responsibilities are what the unknown author of the quoted verses is referring to as ‘the next thing’ – covering every possible task and requirement which we have to face each day. I am so grateful for a home to care for, a garden to tend (there are always a great many ‘next things’ to be done there!); an extended family with whom to communicate and to support; a christian family to join in worship and service; and the never ending task of intercession for a world whose essential beauty and goodness is marred so deeply by the consequences of human sin.

Almighty and Loving Father in heaven, how I thank you for the duties and opportunities of each new day, for the blessing of having many ‘next things’ to keep me from dwelling on my own unhelpful thoughts and feelings. Thank you that the ultimate reality of my place as your beloved child is not threatened by those feelings. Thank you that your Spirit is at work to make me ever more steady and secure in my identity as your precious new-made daughter. Thank you that the well of your grace never runs dry; and even the feeblest, slowest and most easily distracted of your children will one day come home to sweetest rest in glory with you. Help us not to give up, help us to keep on doing ‘the next thing’ until there truly is no more to be done and you call us to yourself. In Jesus’ name and for his glory we pray, Amen.

How to bridge the gap

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O Thou in whom all my fathers trusted and were not put to confusion, rid my heart now of all vain anxieties and paralysing fears. Give me a cheerful and buoyant spirit, and peace in doing Thy will; for Christ’s sake, Amen

(Jn Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer, OUP 1936)

Good friend, don’t forget all I’ve taught you; take to heart my commands…. Don’t lose your grip on love and loyalty. tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart.. Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil!

(Prov 3.1-7: the Message)

While Jews clamour for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle – and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself – both Jews and Greeks – Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s weakness….. Everything we have – right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start – comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.

(1 Cor 1.22-30: the Message)

In the beginning, when God made humankind, the bible tells us that He was pleased with his handiwork. Adam and Eve were called to be stewards of creation, to act as God’s regents, reigning in their place as his people and exercising a benevolent and fruitful care for all that is made. We were made well, and although we rebelled and have rejected God’s authority over us, that truth remains. Humanity is called to be great, because we are made by a great God who has great purposes for us in His eternal story.

As a saved sinner, one who has accepted Jesus as Lord, I have to remember that I too am made well, made to serve my God and to flourish for Him in this world. While sin remains, and until the new creation is unveiled, I will struggle with my own weakness and the sin of others as these impact our world – but the truth remains, I am made well and in Jesus, I give glory to my maker.

To be wise – as the bible would define it – is to know how to live well in this world, with myself and those around me and ultimately with God. And that wisdom is fully and perfectly expressed in Jesus, who not only points the Way to God, but IS the Way; who not only shares and reveals truth about God, but IS Truth and truly God; who offers us life not by some rules and regulations, but in himself, who IS the Life everlasting, the life which belongs to God’s divine nature. To be wise then, is to have Jesus as Saviour and Lord, reigning in our lives and transforming us day by day into his wise-likeness.

As we accept that calling, to find life in Jesus, receiving him as God’s wisdom for our needs, we are equipped to live well in the world – peacefully, fruitfully, hopefully and attractively – shining the light of Christ for others to see and join us in God’s family. Jesus told his followers that as they held fast to him and practiced his teaching, they would know the truth and be set free from the power of sin to bind, distort, torment, and lay waste all their potential. They would know that great richness of life which comes from being in right relationship to God, with sin forgiven and a Spirit-led hunger to know and please our Maker.

This is where we find the bridge, the path from where we were in our sin, to where God has called and made us to be – fully alive, delighting in him, eager to share his love and to enjoy all his good gifts. This is the kind of life to which I aspire, and so I continue to pray for wisdom to grow in me, continue to strive to learn each day what it means to reject the bonds of sin, fear, and guilt.

Oh Father God, have mercy on your daughter in her awareness of failure, her disappointment with herself, and grief over failing you. Forgive and restore her to joy in salvation, in hope in your transforming power, and confidence in Jesus. Bridge that gap between her understanding of the truth, and her lived experience of it, so that her faith becomes buoyant, and she is set free from fear. In Jesus’ powerful name, Amen.

It’s not a performance, it’s a gift…

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Still the night, holy the night! Sleeps the world; hid from sight, Mary and Joseph in stable bare watch o’er the child beloved and fair, sleeping in heavenly rest…..

Still the night, holy the night! Shepherds first saw the light, heard resounding clear and long, far and near, the angel-song, ‘Christ the Redeemer is here!’….

Still the night, holy the night! Son of God, O how bright love is smiling from thy face! Strikes for us now the hour of grace, Saviour since thou art born!’

( Mohr, 1792-1848, translated by S.A. Brooke, 1832-1916)

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Rom 6.22-23)

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved… For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast. 

(2Cor 2.4,5,8&9)

As a Jesus-believer, I look forward to celebrating his birth into our world, remembering with awe and thankfulness the magnitude of that step from unimagineable glory, to the tiny compass, and total helplessness of a human infant. I am grateful that our culture provides time to focus on the story, pondering what it meant, and means, for all humanity that God became one who lived and lives among us.

BUT…. I am aware that for many believers, there is an expectation, a pressure that every year they should achieve a state of heightened spiritual awareness, a transcendent calm and detachment from the busy-ness and daily uncertainties which comprise our lives. Perhaps some people do manage, every year, to reach this condition of super-spirituality, and to pass the season in serene contemplation and worship. Personally, I do not.. and I believe it can be a dangerous expectation to entertain, a foothold by which the enemy of our souls will undermine and condemn us as lacking true faith and spirituality, when we just plod on with the challenges of each day, not feeling very joyful, or serene.

Did God say that we must achieve this super-spiritual state every Christmas and Easter season? Does it say anywhere in our scriptures that we are to generate a particular group of feelings? No! The glorious and grounding reality is not in any way related to our feelings, but is based in facts, in truths which are as immutable as God himself, and as different from human fallibility and fickleness as can be imagined! If we let ourselves believe the lie that somehow every real Christian ‘gets’ Christmas in some transcendent ways, then we are letting ourselves in for serious trouble – as lies usually do. But it is not necessary to screw ourselves up to some heightened emotions in order to properly give thanks, to worship and sit for a little in awed silence before Mary’s infant son.

If our lives in any given advent season do lend themselves to giving extra time to meditating on the truth, soaking up the music and letting God speak to our hearts in an unhurried way, that’s marvellous! But it is also quite acceptable for believers to sincerely celebrate and worship without that luxury, to experience no particularly intense joys, and yet still be blessed and nourished as they share when they can in singing and retelling the story. We are not being judged on our ‘performance’ as believers in that sense, and our best response to the gift of God in Jesus is humble, quiet and relieved acceptance. We can add nothing to what he has done for us, and the grace poured out in Christ by God covers all our needs.

Father, loving and tender-hearted refuge of my aching soul, hear your daughter this night. She is weary, shot through with bitter griefs and the beauty of Christmas music brings floods of tears. She is not serene, or calm but often sad and uncertain. Thank you that her salvation is still secure because it is not dependent on her feeling the right sensations, or striving to enter a particular state of mental tranquility!

The hour of grace has struck for her, for all the weary ones for whom the season brings such mixed feelings of gladness and sadness, hope and grief. Grace is ours now because Christ is born, and there is our true peace, one which lies deep beneath the stormy waves and cannot be taken from us. Thank you..

Mind expanding..!

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning….In him was life, and that life was the light of men…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.. From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

(Jn 1.1&2,4,14&16)

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

(Heb 1.1-4)

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God… For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

(2 Cor 4.4&6)

Don’t you love it when the words on the page seem to jump out at you? When God sets off a firework display in your mind as you read and reflect on what the inspired authors have recorded for us, and can almost feel your brain creaking as it is faced all over again with the sheer enormity of The Almighty Triune God!

I have begun to read the book known as the letter to the Hebrews recently, and in the very first verses of the first chapter, was brought up short: take another look at that passage and just read it slowly to yourself. In a few phrases, the teacher has condensed the gospel, the creation narrative – everything that really matters – and reeled it off as though it were the simplest set of ideas in the world. I love it when the bible does this, crediting me with abilities which I do not possess, to comprehend the incomprehensible and grasp the impenetrable. Why do I love it? Because I am brought to my knees afresh in worship, in humble adoration of my Lord and the Almighty Father by whose will all things are.

Passages like the three which are quoted above are so rich in material for meditation and as prompts to further study as we tease out the connections which they are making, the multitude of echoes raised across the narrative of God’s dealings with his people and the great, revolutionary work of Jesus.  These passages also help us to consider Jesus, focussing on his person, his work and his perfection as God’s appointed one. And it is as we reflect, as we ponder and let these wonderful concepts and pictures enrich our understanding, that our faith is strengthened, and our love for Jesus is deepened.

That’s the wonderful thing about God’s word to us, in the bible and ultimately in the person of Jesus himself, it isn’t just words… It changes us, shapes our minds, transforms our values, and is always fresh with encouragement, challenge and rebuke. We can read it all our lives, and never cease to wonder, to be moved in prayer, confession and repentance, adoration and praise. How right it is to think of God’s word as food, as the crucial nourishment which we need for living; without this food, we starve in ignorance and perish in despair. This food strengthens us and directs us, always providing new things to wrestle with and to train us in living for and with our Saviour.

I don’t need to understand in order to be blessed; I rejoice in the ways that God’s word to me continually shows me my limitations and His endless power, majesty, holiness and love. He is utterly beyond my comprehension, and what a relief that is! In Jesus, we see all that we need to know in order to surrender ourselves in loving dependence and trust to this Heavenly Father – because Jesus IS ‘the exact imprint” and the “radiance of the glory” of God.

Almighty and everlasting God, I worship and praise you today, because I – as your creature – may know you as Father because of your son, my Saviour Jesus. My mind is so small, but I delight to consider him, and to let myself be lost in wonder at his majesty, and his saving work. Let me always be hungry for your word, and ready to have my mind expanded by your glory! For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

The way of faithfulness…

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But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

(Rom 8.25-28)

I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word. I gave an account of my ways and you answered me; teach me your decrees. Cause me to understand the way of your precepts, that I may meditate on your wonderful deeds. My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws. I hold fast to your statutes, Lord; do not let me be put to shame. I run in the path of your commands, for you have broadened my understanding.

(Ps 119. 25-32)

As I was reading Psalm 119 this morning, that phrase, “I have chosen the way of faithfulness” jumped out at me. For all our human weakness and frailty, our vacillating desires and wavering commitment, those who follow Jesus will affirm again and again that this is their choice – to be faithful to the Lord whose faithfulness to us is without limit and has powerfully delivered us from death to life. We long to live according to his word, that he might be glorified in and through us, and that others may join his kingdom of freedom, love and peace. No matter what storms may sweep through our lives, this remains our desire – to walk in the way of faithfulness and not to give up!

I have spoken recently with friends who are facing very challenging seasons, having been laid aside through illness and prolonged medical treatments, they seem to be in some kind of limbo. Their lives have changed out of all recognition and they must live from day to day, not planning far ahead and fighting to remain joyful and peaceful in the strange paths which now they tread. It is perfectly natural that their spirits should be low, and their energy drained so that every day can be an effort to overcome weariness.  The psalmist speaks from such a place of suffering, and his response is to cling fast to truth and to God’s word as it reveals the divine character; calling on the Lord to do for him what is needed, because the whole situation is plain before God. God can bring life from death; can give strength to the weak and understanding and revelation to the confused and despairing.

In such situations, we can find it hard to pray, but again, we have here a guide – to put into our own words an account of our situation and to speak to our Father about our need and desire to remain faithful to Him in the midst of it. Paul assures us that in those situations, we have the power of the Holy Spirit ministering within us and interceding for us before God. It doesn’t matter if we are baffled, so long as we come to the throne room of our Father with our confusion and ask his aid. The Spirit knows God’s heart and plans, and can speak for us.

It is indeed ‘wonderful’ , in the sense of being quite baffling to our minds, that God should be working out his good purposes through our trials, and yet we believe that this is so. The whole of scripture testifies to the providential power of the Almighty to turn darkness into light and suffering into triumph, and always according to his great plan for salvation and the establishment of his kingdom.

Dear loving Father, I pray today for all those who feel that they are wasting time by being ill; who miss their former way of life and wonder what this season of illness is for. May they tell you their story, coming in the trusting attitude of children to the one whom they know can help, and whose motives are for their good.

In this season, Lord bless your servants who have chosen the way of faithfulness, and show them Your faithfulness! Reveal to them opportunities to serve and glorify you in the path which they now walk; enrich them with new delight in your word and understanding of your ways; give them joys in the smallest and simplest pleasures and daily love-gifts from your treasury, each chosen to touch them particularly since you know them so well. Honour their daily choice to walk in faith, and bring them peace. For your glory and their blessing I pray, Amen.

Outlook.. changeable!

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He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children – with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul.

(Ps 103. 10-22)

There is a child in my heart; a child who fears to grieve those she loves, who is deeply ashamed to cause trouble or hurt, who longs to see those around her happy and untroubled. The child often apologises for things that may not be her fault, in an attempt to smooth over discomfort. The child is terrified to express desires, or make choices which may cause discomfort or inconvenience to others. The child is often tired of her failings, and of not managing to grow out of them. The child struggles to see any difference between her failings, and herself – often wishing that she herself were out of the way, so that the lives of those she loves could run without the continual irritant of her faults. The child sees little value in her own contribution to life, except as far as she can please others and make their lives better.

The adult in my heart knows that she is made by God for a purpose; made to know and be known by him; made to serve and delight in him; made to delight in the world, in other people, and all the good gifts which he gives day by day. The adult knows that she is loved, saved, guarded by eternal arms and assured of an inheritance in the world to come. The adult knows that she is forgiven, and forgiven again; and that the love that matters will never fail her and knows her heart’s desire is to be made pure.

The voices of the child and the adult are vying for my attention; first one, and then the other speaks loudest, and as a result I am in a pitiable state of turmoil, at the mercy of some deep, destabilising emotions. The outlook changes not only from day-to-day, but almost minute to minute, and it is very tiring. In such a condition, I do my utmost to cling to the rock which is my Saviour’s love and saving power; his settled disposition for my eternal good. I seek the discipline to recall and meditate on God’s promises to me, promises to forgive, and to transform. I seek ways to lift my head up out of my own mess to look at the great big story of His-story – of God making His kingdom come, and His will be done. In that gloriously wide perspective there lies the possibility of renewed confidence, of peace and the conviction that the battle is won, and I walk under the victor’s flag. The struggles which beset me are put into their place and revealed as skirmishes with the enemy of God’s children, who is using my weakness to draw me away from my Saviour, and bind me in a dungeon of self-pity and despair.

I WILL NOT be bound; I WILL claim the victory which Christ has won over all the powers of evil in this world. And this I do because by the Spirit, God will do it for me! He does not change, when I do. He does not weaken or get distracted. Let my soul praise the Lord!

Heavenly Father, Almighty and Everlasting, whose faithful love never fails, and whose purposes are sure of being fulfilled, I praise and thank you for your steadfastness. You know that I am struggling in these days, fighting a wall of noise which accuses me of failure, stirring up every old shameful act, and every memory of a good deed not done. Have mercy on me, you know that I am but dust. In your fathomless compassion, restore in me by your Spirit, the faith, hope and upwelling gratitude which should be the heartbeat and rhythm of my life as your child. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

Tongue-tied.. but why?

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Jesus [said], “I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.”

(Jn 14.6)

“Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”

(Acts 4.12)

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no-one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption Therefore, as it is written :”Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

(1Cor 1.26-2.5)

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..

(1Pet 3.15)

What is it that keeps me silent when I could speak? Why do I revert to vague generalisations about church, when I have opportunity to speak of Jesus? These questions have been troubling me recently, as I was in that very situation and utterly failed to make proper use of it. I am ashamed and deeply unsettled to realise that I find it so much easier to talk about ‘my faith’, than about the person in whom I have faith.

It has been said that Christianity is not so much a religion, as a relationship, and if that is the case, then I am sadly disengaged from the other party to the relationship! Would a loving wife, when asked about her life, refer continually to her marriage as the best thing in it? Surely she would rather talk about her husband!! In the same way, I realise that my love for Jesus falls short, and is not at the forefront of my thinking. The reality of my salvation, of my eternal hope and the daily help and transforming power of the spirit are what come to mind first, not the person through whom alone I have received them.

This means that my witness, when I have opportunity to speak, is not first of Jesus, but only of how good it is to have faith.. this may have a place, but surely it is not what Paul meant when he shared with the Corinthians, preaching not human wisdom (and much human wisdom relates to the need for faith of some kind!), but the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I do not aspire to be another apostle, but I am aware that the name of Jesus could be on my lips so much more often than it is. I could boast in my Lord so much more than I do, and with gentleness, I could proclaim his unique glory as my saviour and the coming king.

It is pointless to speculate on the whys and wherefores of my reticence, and I don’t want to waste time there, but rather to bring this peculiar reluctance to the Lord himself and ask forgiveness and transformation..

Almighty God, and loving Father, I confess today my lack of love and loyalty to my Lord and Saviour, your son Jesus Christ. I confess that my mind and heart are distracted and often struggle to see him clearly – retreating so readily to consider myself and the blessings I receive from him, instead of recognising and delighting in him as Lord.

I desire to honour you, Father, Son and Spirit; to confess Jesus as my Lord in word and deed, and to proclaim the good news of his salvation to all. I pray you will direct my thoughts, stir up my love, lead my reading and understanding so that the glory, sufficiency, power and unique majesty of Christ might be ever more present in my mind.

Release my tongue to speak of Jesus, in season and out of season; to gently and persistently draw attention to him, and to boast only and always of him. Ignite a fire within my heart, so that all my head knowledge burns with a living flame of love and becomes a place where others may see the light of Christ and meet his love. Let me learn to tell his story and give him glory, in his precious name I pray, Amen.